Emerson wins $33m automation upgrade for Statoil North Sea 05 March 2013

Statoil has awarded Emerson Process Management a $33 million contract to upgrade safety and automation systems on the Visund oil platform, in the Norwegian North Sea.

The new system will use Emerson's novel electronic marshalling, with its CHARMs technology and Statoil expects the system to help improve oil recovery from Visund.

Emerson is to provide an integrated safety and automation systems to help the international energy company extend the life of the field, while also reducing operating costs and minimising safety and environmental risks.

The Visund project is particularly interesting in that it involves a a hot cutover (a seamless changeover from existing to new automation and safety systems) to allow uninterrupted operation of the floating production, drilling, and living-quarters platform.

Steve Sonnenberg, president of Emerson Process Management, says that Emerson will design, configure, and install the new safety and automation systems, while Aker Solutions, of Bergen, Norway, will provide project support.

Emerson's CHARMs technology is being implemented to help with space and weight limitations on the platform. This technology reduces the complexity of connecting systems to the hundreds or thousands of measurement and control instruments in process operations – a significant advantage, because last-minute wiring changes with traditional marshalling can result in high costs and expensive delays.

Statoil will also get Emerson's operator and maintenance interfaces, designed to make it easier for workers to assess operational conditions and take appropriate action to ensure production uptime.

Based on Emerson's PlantWeb digital architecture, the system will include a DeltaV digital automation system to monitor and control platform operations, as well as a DeltaV SIS system to perform emergency shutdown functions and to control fire and gas detection systems.

Emerson's AMS (asset management system) Suite predictive maintenance software will also be used for instrument commissioning and configuration, and to monitor field devices for potential problems that could affect operations.

Brian Tinham

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